Nehemiah 6:13

13 They had hired him to scare me. They wanted me to commit a sin by doing what he said. That would give me a bad name in the community. People would find fault with me and my work.

Nehemiah 6:13 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 6:13

Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so,
and sin
By distrusting the power and providence of God to protect him, and by going into such a part of the temple, which he, being no priest, had no right to go into:

and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might
reproach me;
as a rebel and traitor against the king, which had been reported of him, and which would be strengthened by such a step.

Nehemiah 6:13 In-Context

11 But I said, "Should a man like me run away? Should someone like me go into the temple just to save his life? No! I won't go!"

12 I realized that God hadn't sent Shemaiah. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. That's why he had prophesied lies about me.

13 They had hired him to scare me. They wanted me to commit a sin by doing what he said. That would give me a bad name in the community. People would find fault with me and my work.

14 You are my God. Remember what Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Also remember the prophet Noadiah. She and the rest of the prophets have been trying to scare me.

15 So the city wall was completed on the 25th day of the month of Elul. It was finished in 52 days.